Ever, Ever After
by Myurra-K
Summary: It's been a year, and in that time, things have changed - Peaches has grown, Shira and Diego may not be as well matched as they'd all thought, and Sid's got his own problems. As safe as Manny has tried to keep his daughter over time, nothing could have prepared them for when her first heat season comes early. Rejected and scared, Peaches leaves to deal with the consequences alone.
1. I: In The Beginning

**Notes:**

Although _Ice Age_ is a PG series,_ 'Ever, Ever After'_ is a mature story, and may not be to everyone's tastes. Its ingredients include: situations of violence, brief and undescriptive sexual scenes (not smut), mentions of filicide, teenage/early pregnancy core theme, a pinch of past cabin-fever slash and cross-species romantic interest, and other possibly upsetting elements. Baked in my brain for about a month, and what you get is a central pairing of Peaches/Ethan and an instincts fic. Hopefully this recipe has provided helpful. _(Had to get that out of the way for the kiddies)_

_I own none of the characters, the franchise, or anything other than the four DVDs in my house and the blood, sweat, and tears behind this fic._

...

* * *

**Ever, Ever After**

**I**

**In The Beginning**

.:.

_This isn't a bedtime story with a fairytale ending. Love never is._

.:.

"What did I tell you?" Manny growled out in absolute frustration, shaking his head at his only daughter, of whom stood huddled beside a tree with her trunk wrapped around her aching stomach. Her watery eyes the colour of a shallow sea stood bright and clear against the earthy tones of her fur, yet despite their distress, her father was unmoved. "You can't just eat every single berry you see! I warned your mother, I told her you'd end up addicted to them!"

"I'm not addicted," Peaches whined, scuffing a foot on the ground, "I just had a craving for something sweet, and I was so hungry! I couldn't stop!"

"And now look at where that got you?" Manny chastised, trying to stay firm, but finally letting go of the stern look with a long-suffering sigh. Peaches sniffled, looking away from her father with a stubborn pout hidden behind her tusks. It only proved to make Manny look even more pitying toward his daughter.

"How come uncle_ Sid_ can eat as many berries as he wants," she muttered petulantly, her legs bent at the knees a little with a wave of uneasy pain curling inside her. Her father just shook his head, wandering a little closer, wanting to give her comfort.

"That's because he's Sid; he could eat just about anything and survive," Manny retorted. Not too far away, Diego, who was the only other member of their heard present, gave up the pretence of pretending to be out of hearing distance and snorted quietly. He'd been watching Manny and Peaches bicker with a curious eye, having seen them butting heads many times before. Then again, Manny was often obnoxious, and Peaches quite hard-headed – _must be a parenting thing..._

"You're not kidding," the tiger added from his place sprawled at the base of a tree, sunning himself in the late afternoon warmth. His joining the conversation earned him a glance from both mammoths, as though they really hadn't been aware of him being there. Deciding to just roll with it, he decided defending Manny was the better idea. "I remember when he swallowed that weird flower a few summers ago," he mused, giving Peaches a toothy grin, "he was sick for days, remember? But he still pulled through."

"Damn, I wish I was more like him..." Peaches murmured, and Manny gave a nervous laugh, and a slight warning glance toward the sabre.

"Oh, no you don't. _One_ 'Sid' is more than this herd can handle," he told his daughter, waving his trunk sternly. From behind him, Sid's familiar lispy drawl sounded with indignation, alerting the others that he'd heard at least enough of the conversation.

"You're just jealous that your daughter would rather be like me than like you," Sid retorted, completely unphased by the layered insults that had been thrown his way. Foliage crumbled underfoot as he broke through the wall of bushes and entered the herd's space. Manny rolled his eyes but didn't reply, deciding to allow his friend the chance to stroke his own ego. Diego covered his mouth with a paw, burying his smirk.

Peaches whimpered again, butting her head against the tree in frustration. "Ugh, dammit!"

Coming close enough to lay his trunk supportingly on his daughter's shoulders, Manny seemed to finally be struck with a chord of paternal sympathy."Don't worry, honey. We'll get some water into you and you can sleep it off, okay?"

"Yeah, then you'll be right as rain!" Sid chimed happily, making Peaches smile a little despite her discomfort, cutting off whatever disagreement she may have had.

Her smile widened when, from the undergrowth behind Sid, Louis stumbled out. The molehog was brushing his arms and glaring weakly behind him at what looked to be a broken spiderweb. "Gross. I hate insects."

"Well actually," Sid informed, holding up a long clawed finger toward the creature who seemed to have been following him, turning around and picking the eight-legged intruder from the other mammal's shoulder, "it's technically an arachnid," he said with an informative gesture toward the creature.

Louis looked up at Sid with a funny twist in his expression, between a cringe and pity. It took the sloth several seconds to realise that he was holding a twitching spider by its leg. He gave a sudden shout and threw the creature toward the tree-line, rubbing down the sides of his arms with a sickened shudder.

After mutually rolling their eyes, the herd greeted Louis. "Weiner, long time no see," Manny said neutrally, patting his trunk once more against Peaches' shoulder. "Come to take care of my irresponsible daughter for me?"

"Uh, no..I mean, yes, sir, uh...Peach?"

"He's just teasing you, Louis," Peaches reassured her friend, pushing herself up from the base of the large pine tree she'd been supporting her weight on, feigning an instant recovery. "So, we ready to go?"

"Woah, woah, little lady. I thought you were sick?" Manny interrupted, holding out his trunk in front of his daughter. She granted her father a rather pointed stare.

"Dad, c'mon. We're only going out to see the meteor shower."

"What meteor shower? Didn't you go watch that last month?"

"No dad, that was the Southern Lights. The meteor shower isn't happening until tonight."

Manny looked like he wasn't sure he believed his daughter. Diego piped up with his own opinion on the matter.

"You remember, don't you? The one the vultures were talking about just before they migrated - You're supposed to be able to see it from here," the tiger informed. Manny raised a brow, turning back to his daughter who was nodding.

"Well, then, you can both stay here and watch it."

"But dad-"

"You're sick."

"I'm not_ that_ sick. Look, I feel fine now."

"Only because you're not getting what you want."

"But, but..._boys_," she stressed, as though that fact would help her argument any. At her ankle, Louis seemed to lose expression, glancing down at his feet. Manny's frown didn't disappear.

"I'm sure there'll be plenty of boys in the morning."

"Please, daddy," Peaches begged, her large green eyes seeming much more dewy than they'd been a moment ago. "We promised we'd be there!"

"Ah, let her go, Manny," Sid interrupted, slapping a hand against the closest part of his friend, which thankfully happened to be a large front leg, "she's not gonna leave it alone unless you just let her do what she wants."

"And who'd she learn that from, I wonder?" Manny replied with thinly veiled sarcasm. As per usual, Sid didn't pick up on the tone.

"I admit, my cunning ways may have been a terrible influence on the impressionable mind of your spawn," Sid continued modestly, all while Diego and Manny exchanged knowing glances, "and I shall have to take responsibility for it some day, but for now, I'll continue to be a proud mentor and say that you should really just go along with it."

"I go along with it every day," the mammoth dead-panned, knowing the irony was lost on deaf ears.

Sid, always none the wiser, grinned goofily, "then one more night shouldn't hurt, right bud?"

This time, Manny actually appeared to be considering what his friend was saying. Diego, who noticed the look of contemplation on Manny's features, stretched his paws one final time, clawing at the dirt contentedly, before rising. Approaching his two oldest friends, looking between one and the other, he took the time to consider Sid's words himself. It wasn't often they actually took him seriously, and if the look on Peaches' face was anything to go by, she was hoping it would be one of those nearly monumental occasions.

Manny didn't look at all happy when he finally forced out his next words. "Alright, fine. But I expect you back home in two hours, or...or you're grounded, and you'll have to clean the cave out for a month," the bull finished weakly. This time, it was Sid and Diego who exchanged a look, knowing their friend wouldn't hold his word even if Peaches wasn't home until midnight.

He never was one much for discipline anymore.

"Yes! Thanks, dad! C'mon, Louis," she grinned, no sign of her earlier discomfort, slinging her small best friend onto her shoulder by her trunk. Louis appeared to be startled by the sudden replacement of what had been under his feet, gripping at the young mammoth's hair in shock. Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, Peaches was already tumbling through the undergrowth, an unusual low trumpeting sound echoing from her trunk, the molehog on her shoulder wide-eyed. A confused and almost terrified wail came from the small mammal, the sound disappearing along with the two teenagers into the trees.

"Two hours!" Manny called out to the backside of his retreating daughter, who didn't bother to reply. When she finally faded into the near distance, Manny sighed as though in pain, curling his trunk to press against his brow. Diego, completely unsympathetic, inspected his claws.

"C'mon, Manny. You know it could be worse," he stated.

Sid jostled the mammoth's front leg with his elbow this time. "Diego's right – she could've been going there for girls instead." The sabre gave Sid an undecipherable look at his suggestion, but Manny just glared.

"You think I'd care, Sid? I don't care. I just don't like the way she always runs off at the first chance she gets. Anyone'd think she didn't need us anymore."

The sloth shrugged, "yeah, but at least she's doing what's perfectly natural of a girl her age. I'm just saying, being your daughter and all, she could've turned out much worse."

"Sid," Diego sounded strangely flat, "just shut up."

The grin the sloth gave the sabre then was strangely wrong for the situation, and not even Manny knew why – probably a trait he'd picked up from being around a sabre for the past two decades of his life. Deciding to bypass the awkwardness that was his friends, the mammoth glanced around the treeline, frowning into the slowly darkening forest. It was almost evening already.

"The days are getting shorter," Manny observed.

Scratching his stomach as he looked around, Sid seemed to notice the way the night crept up on them as well. "Huh. Would you look at that – it's almost rainy season...again."

Diego grimaced.

"Can you believe it?" Manny sounded just sad enough to make his friends look up at him curiously, "It's already been over a year since we came here, and we've never even left this part of the island. My _daughter_ knows more about this place than I do, and _I'm_ the one that's supposed to be looking out for _her_."

"Hey, buddy," Diego interrupted what sounded like an impending tirade, "Sid's an idiot. He doesn't know what he's even saying four fifths of the time."

Sid shrugged, completely unbothered. "Eh, 's true."

"Trust me, I know what a bad father is, and you're not a bad father. You and Ellie are the most nurturing parents I've ever seen, and your daughter has turned out all the better for it. She's just like the both of you, and she'll always love and need you. You know that."

Manny smiled down at the tiger. "You're right, I know. It's just...there's so much to worry about. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to her."

"She's a big girl, she can handle herself," Ellie's sweet voice came from behind them, and Manny looked relieved to see his mate returning looking perfectly fine. She was bright-eyed as usual, with a bundle of wood rolled in her trunk and her brothers chasing one another around her feet. They knew her pace well enough to avoid being stepped on, so she didn't even have to bother herself with their size.

Shira was keeping in pace on the female mammoth's other side, returned from her hunt and having probably ran into Ellie on the way back. She spotted Diego and came straight over to him, no particular expression on her face as she went about her habit and rubbed her neck against his chest, curling her body affectionately around his as she circled to his other side. Sid watched them with a lazy smile, and Diego, who'd gotten a warm expression in his eyes at seeing his own mate, noticed the sloth's stare and lowered his own quickly, ears flickering back against his head just briefly enough to notice but not be concerned with.

For anyone other than Shira, of course.

Seeing her mate's strange behaviour, she butted her head against him to garner his attention. "You eaten yet, Tiger?" Diego nodded, watching her settle down on the ground as though to rest, appeased by his answer. He stayed rigid, though, not intending to join her just yet.

"So what is Peaches planning on doing _tonight_?" Ellie asked, sounding just slightly exasperated at their daughter's constant disappearance, but to her credit it was only a sliver the amount of Manny's exhaustion. Dropping the pile of logs on the ground by the charred circle of ash and rocks in the centre of the small cave where Sid and the sabres slept, and where they all huddled during the unpredictable nights when it seemed ready to storm, she joined her mate with a soft, loving look.

"Your daughter's gone to watch the meteor shower with her friends," Manny shrugged.

Ellie frowned, not even bothering to pull Manny up on the fact she was 'our' daughter, not 'your' daughter. "What meteor shower?"

"That's what_ I_ said," the bull grunted. Shira chuckled as the possum brothers raced around her outstretched front paws, chasing one another up over her spine and between Diego's legs, cackling with their own secret amusement as usual.

"Cool, think we'll be able to see it from here?" Eddie asked, dodging his brother, but the question went ignored.

"I wonder when we'll all sit down to a night together as a family," Manny wondered, earning himself a sympathetic stare from his mate. It was obvious he missed his daughter now that she had more freedom and used it to her absolute advantage.

"Think about it," Sid began, wanting to cheer his friend up, "you've known her nearly seventeen years of your life, but she's known you all of hers. I remember when Marshall went through that stage; mum said it was just a phase. He just needs time to figure out who he is all by himself."

Manny's dark brow fur could be seen lifting, "and that, coming from your mother, is supposed to make me feel better?"

"Is it working?"

"Not really."

.:.

* * *

**A/N:** I figured I'd put the details at the bottom of the fic because, at least there, you can chose to ignore it. This entire fic is outlined, as in I sat down and planned chapter-to-chapter, and it's been mostly completed. It's a LONG story, and personally I figure it's better to not bother estimating how long it'll be by the time it's finished because I have a habit of surpassing that point. I'm aiming to update once a week at the minimum, unless I can't get to my computer or my other stories take priority.

I absolutely adore the idea of Peaches and Ethan, and I hope that if/when they make a fifth movie, she ends up with him. I got the idea in my head and I just couldn't scratch it away, so I started writing. And writing, and writing. And ta-dah!

I will make an effort to respond to all reviews that require a response, and I'm perfectly happy to answer questions. Other than that, I hope you enjoy my contribution to the Ice Age fandom.

**Love, MK**


	2. II: Life Is A Rose

**Ever, Ever After**

**II**

**Life Is A Rose**

_She Hides Her Ugly Thorns Under Velvet Petals_

.:.

Peaches was overly excited; she knew that, and no doubt Louis knew that. Yet he remained totally silent, not saying a word as she trampled her way to the beach where the others no doubt already were, her spirits high and the stomach-ache seemingly well forgotten. Even if he was mad or upset, he couldn't keep his composure for long and would always coax her into conversation, so it was unusual of him to be so hushed, and Peaches knew she should be concerned. Maybe she wasn't being a good friend, but her own mind, like his it seemed, was elsewhere.

She hadn't seen a proper meteor shower since she was a baby, but that wasn't why she was so eager and worked up to be there.

As childish as it made Peaches feel, she'd never truly outgrown her crush on Ethan. It'd always been under the surface, because there was no where else for all the attraction and the admiration to go. All that gave her peace of mind was the reminder that once, not too long ago, she'd thought that everything from the way he breathed to the way he scuffed his feet when he thought he was alone was absolutely perfect. Even now, she still smiled warmly at the thought of the young bull, and sometimes, when he talked to her alone, she still stuttered and stumbled and fell out of trees. There was no way she could get through a day around her new friends without staring at him for a good few minutes at the very least, because he really was just that damn hot, but there was none of that desperation buried in the depths of her chest, clawing up her throat to just _say something, dammit!_

At least, there hadn't been; not since that day she'd gotten in his face and put him back in his place where no one else dared put him.

She'd wanted so desperately to make herself stand out from Steffie and the other girls, and boy had she done it. Just not in the way that she'd hoped.

Maybe it was the feeling of hopelessness that made her affections for him totally impossible. At least now she had a wider gaze and could see how stupid she'd been for trying to group herself with all the other girls, mindlessly fawning all over him, waving their shallow love so obviously. The worst part about all that was the little oblivious thing he had going – it was so terribly false. He pretended he didn't know what he was doing, that charming little act he pulled when he convinced her to ditch Louis and hang out with him.

_Oh, he knew alright._

She couldn't give up on her feelings for him, but his ego was too big already; there was no need to lump her affection on top of all that.

So she'd fawned from a distance, held her tongue and fallen in line, but lately she'd been finding it harder and harder to maintain that distance, treating Steffie as the alpha girl with the first claim to Ethan's fickle attentions. There was a reason he'd liked her, after all, so she kept telling herself; there just had to be.

Maybe it was silly that something so small had given her a hope to cling on to for so long, but she wanted to stand out once more, and she'd hopefully she'd succeed without the crash-landing on Ethan's face or the losing of her best friend on the way.

Louis, though unsurprised, was completely against it, no doubt still hurting from the last time Ethan had come into her life, leading her to renounce all her ties with the molehog that had been in her life since she was a calf, who had been her closest friend since she was twelve summers and all the other kids started catching on to adult gossip that had them thinking she was a freak.

And Ethan had wanted her to give up that one strand of loyalty within every mammal of her generation? It took one self-assured mammoth to ask and expect to simply receive, nothing given in return, and Peaches had fallen right into that trap last time, head over heels and completely naïve.

_Not this time. No, if he wants me, he's just gonna have to chase _my_ tail, not the other way around._

_Otherwise, I'll just have to find someone else eventually. Someone like..._

"Are we almost there?" Louis finally asked, his voice barely carried over the melodic thundering of Peaches' stride. It drew her away from her thoughts and the path they'd been straying on. Even though took her a few seconds to find the voice to reply, the words came with ease.

"Yep, another minute or two and we're there," she replied, having spotted a familiar rock, slowing down to a simple walk. She could already smell the salt from the ocean, and something musky that reminded her of when too many teenage boys got sweaty from mock-fighting or some kind of sports. Although the run hadn't been that far, Peaches' heart was racing, her back legs just wanting to continue running, jittering with energy.

She'd never felt this _alive_ before.

Louis breathed out a sigh of relief when the pace slowed to a stroll. "Man, I thought your dad was really going to put us _both_ on lockdown."

"Ha, yeah," Peaches murmured fondly, noticing only then that the ache in her gut had receded to a dull enough ache that it could easily be ignored, "they care about you, ya know that? I think they kinda see you as, like, my adopted brother, 'specially after you saved me and all."

Louis hummed, leaving them to wander in silence for a while. The lack of reply confused her.

_I wonder what's wrong with him...he's so quiet..._

It wasn't until they heard an awful cracking and an angry grunt that anything else was said.

"What the hell was that?" Louis squeaked, gripping Peaches' hair tighter in his small paws, memories of the pirates still too sore of a wound in their minds. It made them jumpy and irrationally fearful, and usually it would be about now that Peaches would turn around and go the long way, completely avoiding the happenings of the strange animals around them. This time, though, Peaches hushed him, holding up a trunk as though prepared to defend both herself and her companion. The lack of flight response in the mammoth frightened Louis.

Unaware of her friend's anguish, Peaches was focused on one thing, and one thing only. There, through the trees, she could barely make out a movement, a noisy ruckus still lifting from the area. She crept past the dense thicket of trees and scrub, hearing Louis pinch out her name in concern only to be hushed again, seeing a dark shape through the packed leaves and completely distracted by it. Curious, aware that she was probably the bigger of the two animals, she continued.

Upon coming around the edge of a low-lying branch lined with dark, hardy leaves, she and Louis were granted a shock they had not at all expected. They were more probably more prepared for the sight of Captain Gutt and his crew using an oyster to strip the pelt off a squirming creature than what was actually in front of them, despite the significant lack of gore or frightening surrealism.

Ethan was at the centre of where the noise had came from, and for just a moment Peaches wondered if maybe he'd simply heard it too, and just like them, had come to investigate. Then, without warning, the bull backed away from a worn cyprus tree a few large paces, before racing toward it, butting his head hard against the solid body of the inanimate opponent Hooking his trunk around the base, pushing forward from his hind legs, his front legs came up onto the bark with a sudden hard push. The tree started to lean over with a the thundering sound of a storm, bark splintering in a sharp crackle similar to glaciers splitting apart. Ethan, severing the tree from its own roots, effectively killing it, grunted hard as he pushed it right over into the dirt and undergrowth.

The tree was huge, and the landing itself caused a tremor that ran along the ground, vibrating up the length Peaches' legs. A small cloud of dust lifted, a lone bird squawked indignantly at having been disturbed, and just as soon as it all started, silence returned.

He stood, panting, staring at his handywork without giving any indication as to what he'd been thinking. Peaches, only able to see the rear of the familiar young bull, wasn't sure enough of where she stood with him to see if he was alright.

Finally, he gave a loud huff, which could have been either from annoyance or amusement, before suddenly stiffening up. His ears flickered, as though having heard something, and before Peaches knew it the other mammoth had turned around, staring her in the eyes over the distance.

"Peach...you made it!" he'd started off sounding confused, but then time kicked in and the excitement bloomed in his voice, the bull taking a few steps closer, causing Peaches to do subconsciously do the same. _He's never been that happy to see me._

He spotted Louis on her shoulder, the excitement dimmed and time began to slow down, as though each faltering step Ethan made was a beat of her own heart. Ethan finally stopped approaching, with enough space between them that anyone would think they hadn't been friends for a year. As though only just now realizing he was in company, he corrected his pose, tipping his head upwards with nonchalance. Flicking his trunk in a way that suggested he didn't care either way, he glanced toward the treetops. It was all so fake that it was distasteful. "That's cool, I wasn't sure you were coming. Let's go find the others, then, yeah?"

There was conveniently no mention of his small outburst.

The sickness that had abated now roiled inside her, reminding her of her sickeningly sweet binge, but she forced it down.

Peaches turned to glance over her shoulder at her friend. Louis shook his head and shrugged, sliding down the length of the mammoth's front leg and landing by her foot. By the time either of them had looked forward again, Ethan had already taken off ahead, obviously not planning on waiting for them, so Peaches and Louis just lingered back. She was staring curiously at the fallen tree as her friend leaned in to whisper to her, as though by miracle the bull could have possibly heard otherwise.

"Well that was unnecessary." He was giving Peaches a funny look, fully intended for her. She took her eyes from the wooden carnage just in time to catch it. It seemed almost accusing or expectant.

"What?_ I_ don't know why he's acting like that."

"I'm sure."

"Louis! I really don't!"

Hearing the tone in her voice, the molehog scampered forward, blocking her path. "Wait, you really don't know?" He asks, as though it was something that she should've been aware of. She shook her head. "So, you don't know then that you're..." he trailed off, his voice having been hopeful, and an abashed look twisted along his soft features.

"That I'm_ what_?"

"Never mind. Lets go, otherwise we'll get there and have to turn around straight away."

.:.

* * *

"So the rainy season's almost here," Manny said conversationally, turning to Diego, "we were almost flooded out, last time. Should we risk it again, or move to higher ground?"

The sabre appeared about to say something, but his words melted into a scowl at the possums running childishly by his feet, completely oblivious. He slapped his paw over Crash's tail, pinning it to the ground. The abrupt attack caused the possum to land flat on his face, and his brother, Eddie, who had been chasing him without pause, to trip and tumble over him. Their faces skid roughly into the ground, but Diego looked on without remorse. After all, just like Sid, the possums could bounce back from just about anything.

"Will you two cut it out?"

"Pull your teeth out of your ass, pussy cat," Crash muttered between spitting out a mouthful of dirt, brushing Eddie's tail away from his face. His brother seemed slower to react, but finally shook his head, proceeding to roll off Crash upon realizing he was crushing him, "you used to play with us. You used to be _fun. _Any chance you remember that word?"

"Maybe it's time for you two to grow up already."

"Is that what happened to you?" Eddie asked, digging his elbows into the dirt and supporting his chin with his paws now that he was laying on his own stomach and not his brother's. He was staring up at the tiger and innocently swirling his tail behind him, being every ounce the embodied infuriation they'd always been. "Tigey-Wigey got a bit of pussy and suddenly decided he was too good for the rest of us?"

Ellie's trunk snaked around and thumped her brother on the head, a disgusted look on her face at the possum's sudden vulgar language.

Shira seemed unfazed, having heard much worse in living with her crew, so she remained dutifully on her hind, her head proudly up as she stared coolly at the possum brothers and her mate.

Diego growled, prompting Crash to point a tiny paw at him, single claw poking the sabre in the nose. "It's true and you know it. You got yourself girlfriend and now you couldn't even lift a claw to try and eat us when we piss you off." This time, Ellie just curled her trunk against her brow while Manny patted her shoulder sympathetically. "If that's what _we_ think, imagine how_ Sid_ feels."

The entire herd, who until this moment had been entirely focussed on the possums and Diego, all turned to Sid as though something had just dawned on them. Crash and Eddie looked on expectantly, waiting to be proven right. Diego, though it was barely noticeable, pulled his shoulders forward just slightly, sinking back into himself. Manny thought the sabre looked guiltily, like he already understood where the conversation was going.

And that's where Manny was confused. He'd thought everything was perfectly fine, aside from his wayward daughter of course. He'd been living under the belief that Shira had been settling in with his family with perfect ease. She and Diego were made for each other, in his opinion. If Sid had ever had a problem with it, he certainly hid it well, seeing as all he'd done was encourage the two and antagonise Diego until the sabre admitted it. Sure, even if there was something wrong, he'd probably have asked Ellie to talk to the sloth, seeing as his last attempt at talking to Diego about what was bugging him had ended _so well_ and all. But even now, with Shira's head tilted in observation and Diego looking on with some kind of blend of regret and resentment, Crash and Eddie staring sternly at the mammal under scrutiny, Sid only smiled.

"What?" he asked, oblivious as always, yet entirely aware that all attention was focussed on him. The look in his eyes told Manny that he knew exactly _'what'_.

Crash frowned at his brother, before stepping forward and gesturing at the larger mammals. "Tell them, Sid!" He wasn't letting this go easily.

Sid seemed to realise this as well, as the sloth just started scouring for his rocks. "There's nothing to say, really," he murmured, finding two similar looking stones and crashing them together. There was no spark, so he dropped the paler stone and continued searching, leading Manny to lift his foot off a couple and step back enough for the search to continue, "Manny has Ellie, Crash and Eddie are always together, Peaches is always with Louis and her friends...been like that for years. Now, well, Diego has Shira."

"Oh, honey," Ellie suddenly whispered, her jade eyes wide and sad. Manny took a moment longer to realise what Sid had just said, and another moment for it to settle in. The sloth clicked several more rocks against one another, with none of them sparking on contact. Manny felt, in that moment at least, that his brain was exactly like those rocks - the thoughts and memories colliding, but nothing became of them. No solution.

He'd been about to reach out his trunk toward his friend, who tossed one of the rocks over his shoulder. He hesitated. "Wait, Sid-"

Sid interrupted before anything else could be said, one clawed hand resting on his hip,"I'm not gonna find a mate, I know that. We all know that. I'm not exactly a prime example of 'good genes'," he punctuated his words by tossing the last rock over his shoulder lightly, before dusting his palms together. "The only kids I ever had were removed at least few thousand years. But I don't care, not anymore. I have you guys, right?"

It sounded perfectly honest, not an ounce of sarcastic clip in his tone. Then again, maybe it was just Sid, but Manny wasn't sure because he'd never heard his friend talk like this before. The sloth started toward the trees then, back turned on his herd, appearing completely fine with the conversation despite everything. Manny realised that anyone had yet to deny the words Sid had said, and even though Manny didn't really believe them, because surely there was a mate out there somewhere that would love Sid the way he deserved, he never got the chance to say so.

"Where are you going?" It was Shira who asked, unknowingly cutting Manny off before the mammoth had found his tongue, the female sabre finally moving from where she was sitting and stalking forward on her front paws. Sid blinked twice over his shoulder before answering.

"The rocks are no good," he shrugged, continuing into the foliage noisily. It went unsaid that the rocks he'd used the night before were propped up against the buttress roots of the three he'd just passed by, but for a while they all stared at the two dark stones, tension swelling.

Diego didn't know what he was feeling - everything felt so similar it was hard to distinguish one emotion from another. There was so much to be said just in Sid's silence alone.

Crash and Eddie gave a withering look toward the motionless tawny sabre, who just barely caught their glares as he looked up from his paws. The growl Diego gave then startled Shira beside him, but he didn't even so much as glance at her.

"You have no idea what you're on about."

"We're not blind," Eddie said almost kindly. Manny noticed then just as he sometimes did that Eddie and Crash were completely different mammals despite being twins, because while he'd adopted a calmer attitude, Crash still seemed to be silently seething. Why, Manny couldn't fathom. With a glance at Ellie, he was relieved to know from the look on her face alone that he wasn't the only one who felt intrusive on this strangely private argument.

"You two don't even like him, you said so yourselves, so don't look at _me_ like that."

"Yeah, well, that was years ago," Crash began, "and he wasn't _our_ best friend."

"And maybe we grew up."

"Maybe we did. What's _your_ excuse, sabre?"

The way Crash had spat the word 'sabre' almost made it sound like an insult, and from the way Diego's eyes slitted, perhaps it was in that moment.

Diego stared after the possums as they raced up the tree and out of sight, bloodlust burning as though he wanted nothing more than to chew on them and spit their mangled corpses out. The look made even Manny shudder, reminding him that his friend was a carnivore, that he was perfectly capable of what he visibly wanted to do, restrained only by his sense of loyalty and reluctant love for his herd. It was a look he used to give Sid in the early years, one that waned with fondness for the helpless creature. He realised then that Crash had called Diego and Sid best friends, and while it hurt to think he wasn't included in that title, that his responsibility toward his mate had drawn him away from them both, he knew now it was true, that the two of them used to always be seen together if not hunting of foraging. They even used to sleep beside one another.

He also suddenly understood exactly what the brothers were trying to explain.

Shira, too, stared at her mate, still appearing collected if not a little puzzled by his reaction. After a tense lingering moment, it was obvious by the way she remained completely rigid that she was feeling completely out of place and uncomfortable with being there.

Shira had never seen Diego mill through such a wide swatch of emotions, especially outwardly. Even toward her, he was usually quite curt if not a little distant about anything bar affection. He really was a soft sabre, always nuzzling her and grooming her, but it was the little things that she couldn't understand. Things like this, when he seemed conflicted with his predator side and his protector side. Shira herself knew it was hard going from hunting possums, sloths, and mammoths as food, to completely turning the other direction and living with them, loving them even. Just as it was hard adjusting to co-existing with another sabre.

But perhaps they didn't care for her as she'd thought they did. She was about to excuse herself when Ellie, as though having read her mind, reached out to brush against Shira's side with a trunk.

"Don't you dare," the mammoth told the other female, whose ears flattened against her head guiltily, "they love you just like we do," she said smoothly, raising her voice a little so the possums could hear from the tree they were hiding in, "they're just ungrateful brats and need a good thumping."

"No, they're right."

"How can anything they said possibly be right?"

"I didn't intend to come here and break anything. I just wanted a real home, and I never knew you cold have one with a family that loved you no matter what. I wanted that as much as I wanted to be with Diego. I can't leave without taking him with me, and I cant take him with me without taking the rest of you as well."

"Well, unless you know how to kidnap a whole herd," Manny said softly, trying to hide the fact he too felt an unusual bitterness toward Diego's mate, one he hadn't been aware of before now, beginning to kindle away, "you're not going anywhere." _For Diego's sake._

.:.

* * *

The night itself was clear, perfect for watching the anticipated meteor shower, and with the nights coming earlier the evenings were warmer for longer, which meant that the fireflies would be out soon. Not as of yet, surely, but soon enough. The beach itself was a long stretch of golden sand, edged on one side with volcanic rock, and the other with ice. Small stones and shells, like milemarkers in their rarity, speckled the beach in such a way as to disrupt the perfection yet add to it. The uniqueness of the natural ornaments was unlike anything she'd ever seen before in her life, with the mother-of-pearl that shimmered in only the brightest colours, the occasional pools of water that glistened within upturned abalone shells, and even the occasional crabs that skittered across the beach to safety with lopsided claws raised in warning.

Peaches remembered the place well. It was where her father had washed ashore with Diego, Sid, Sid's grandmother, and Shira. She made a point to memorise every part of that place, wondering at its beauty. Having lived in a place of ice all her life, the richness of the island was fascinating to her.

It was so amazing, yet nobody noticed.

For once Peaches was just like everybody else, for upon reaching the beach, it wasn't the scenery that her eyes sought first.

It was Ethan.

The bull seemed to have completely recovered from whatever madness had overcome him in the forest, and was walking shoulder-to-shoulder with his best friend, Bardus. The alpha bull was chatting rapidly, illustrating his point with a circular wave of his trunk, while the other bull nodded in supposed understanding.

Bardus was a broad mammoth with a dark pelt, and once, Peaches hadn't been sure there was much more to him aside from the physical components that made him whole. He'd never competed for any attention from the ladies, and though he was quite a handsome bull, he spent most of his time with Ethan or the other boys. He seemed a little dim, as he said some stupid things sometimes, the worst of which Peaches remembered back to just after she'd gone off at Ethan that one time.

"_If you guys are normal, then the species is gonna end up extinct!" Peaches spat, revelling in the way she made Ethan cower back, eyes wide in understanding and shock. He'd probably never been spoken to that way in his entire life, not even by his own mother. In fact, his mouth moved just slightly, enough to show that he wanted to say something, but simply couldn't, wouldn't. It was the principle of rendering someone speechless._

_Turning and storming off angrily, flicking the purple hibiscus flower, the one Katie had so sweetly placed behind her ear, onto the ground in passive retaliation. She ignored the lacklustre retort the golden-furred mammoth gave in whoever's defence._

"_Oh yeah? Well, your species is gonna go extinct first!" was the brilliant words that came from the other girl's mouth. _

_Bardus, for lack of anything better to say, contributed with "Ooh, burn!" _

"_Ugh, we're the same species, genius," Ethan replied, and Peaches could almost hear the way he rolled his eyes at the beasts he surrounded himself with. _

"_Waah! Double burn!"_

_The scoff that came from Ethan was satisfaction enough that she'd made her point, and it'd gotten through. _

Yet, despite his lack of intellectual contribution to their only significant encounter, not to mention the fact he'd barely had anything direct to say to her, she'd seen him talking deeply with Ethan many times. The two were attached at the hip when girls weren't around, and Peaches knew that while Bardus may not be the brightest mammoth, he no doubt dumbed himself down even more while with his friends. She wasn't sure if it was a token of immaturity, or of loyalty.

Peaches had done the same, so she knew the feeling. Who was she to judge the effect Ethan had on the way those around him behaved?

He wasn't hot in the way Ethan was, but there was a more rugged, even unkempt look about him. Sometimes Ethan looked like he took more care of his appearance than even she did which could potentially grow a bit awkward between them. But this other mammoth, while not as popular or outgoing as Ethan, was just as fun-loving, and if the way Ethan was always talking it his ear was anything to go by, he seemed to be a good listener. In reality, he physically everything a bull was supposed to be.

_Maybe he's more my type?_

Louis impatiently nudged her. The jostle made her realise that she had yet to even move from where she'd stopped dead at the edge of the trees, the sand only just barely beneath her first two feet. "C'mon, Peaches," he called softly, having seen where her eyes were.

"Have you ever talked to Bardus?" she asked, causing Louis to frown.

"No, have you?"

"Come to think of it, not really. Just here or there, ya know?" she replied nonchalantly, leading her best friend onto the beach. He stood beside her, feeling safer within her proximity as always. She just smiled down at him, glancing at the two bulls once more from the corner of her eye.

"What's this about?"

"Nothing in particular."

"Oh no, not again. You're not gonna talk to him to find out more about Ethan, are you?" Louis asked, a paw already pressed to his face. Peaches nearly stopped dead, giving him a flat look.

"Oh come on, I'm not like that anymore. You know that. I was just curious. He seems so different around Ethan to what he is around the rest of us."

"Well, of course. They're best friends. I'm not myself when I'm not around you, either," Louis said softly, his face a gentle expression of fondness that Peaches both adored and felt uncomfortable with.

_Sometimes I wish you were a girl, Louis._

"I see," she said as quietly as possible, saying no more as she lead him toward the other girls and another bull, all four of them resting comfortably on the ground, having probably been there the entire time. Meghan was talking to the charcoal grey bull, paying no attention to Peaches or Louis, or even the other girls for that matter. Katie, at least, smiled eagerly at their arrival.

"Peach! Louie!" she chimed, seeming almost relieved at their presence, her gentle voice making Peaches smile. Reaching toward the flower behind her ear with her trunk, Katie was already lifting herself up from the ground and immediately placing the deep red dahlia behind Peaches' ear. "Here, this'd suit you more than me!" she said cheerfully, before wrapping her pale trunk around Peaches' tusk, pulling her closer. The golden pelt of the other female was something that attracted the eye, being such a pale colour, and the movement caused the others present to finally acknowledge the new arrivals. They weren't the only ones that glanced over.

"Hey!" Bardus called from where he and Ethan were stood at the water's edge, lifting his trunk with his enthusiastic greeting. Shyly, Peaches waved her own in return, before noticing that neither Ethan nor Louis had returned the gesture. Stiffly, she turned the wave into a brush of her fringe from her eyes, lowering herself next to Katie at the other mammoth's insistent tug on her tusk.

Louis curled up at Peaches' side, crossing his arms over his chest and staring up at the sky, still strangely and forebodingly pensive. She decided to leave him to his thoughts.

He was still her best friend, but since befriending other girls, she found it harder and harder to talk to him about her problems. That was what she now had Katie for. Unfortunately, her friendship with Katie had affected both of their friendships with Steffie, it seemed. Since she and Katie began getting along well enough, it seemed that Katie and Steffie no longer saw eye-to-eye, and time even found Meghan replacing Katie as the favourite.

"It's good you're here," Katie said, sounding almost sulky, "Meghan was being mean."

"I'm not mean," the darker girl replied. Steffie stirred with interest, looking between the other girls and the quiet grey bull. "I'm honest. You're a suck-up."

"Peach, am I a suck up?"

"See? Right there, that's sucking up. You're a crawler; you want to be everyone's best friend."

"What's wrong with that?" Peaches asked, confused. "It just means she's nice."

"Well you obviously don't hear what she says behind your back."

Steffie seemed to have heard enough. "You're no different, Meg. For real, stop acting like you're better than everybody else just 'cause you got a boyfriend."

_Ah, so that's why everyone's so tense. Meghan one-upped Steffie and got herself a guy. _

Meghan rolled her eyes, wrapping her trunk around that of her partner. Peaches struggled to remember his name. He looked uncomfortable with the arguing that was going on around him. In fact, he was glancing over at the other boys that were up the beach, not too far away from Bardus and Ethan, who were throwing around a clump of seaweed at each other and trying not to get hit.

He looked like that was where he'd much rather be.

Peaches, herself, couldn't help but agree, watching a buck accidentally forget to duck out of the line of fire, his antlers becoming entangled with the dripping green sea plant.

"Hey, c'mon," she said suddenly, standing up, forgetting about Louis who'd been laying against her side. She murmured an apology upon seeing him roll back suddenly on the sand. "Let's go play!"

"Ew, you wanna go play with the_ boys?_" Steffie asked, her auburn trunk lifting haughtily to flick back at her hair. "They're just throwing around a gross, slimy pile of weed."

"So?" Peaches shrugged, grabbing Katie by the tusk, much the way the other girl had done to her. "Come on, lets go."

"Wait, I dunno! It looks..."

"...fun?"

"Messy."

"Same thing," Peaches grinned, pulling a little harder. Out of the other mammoth's insistence, Katie allowed herself to be pulled up onto her feet, but still stayed put. "Oh come on, you wont know until you try."

"Well...alright, but if I get any of that stuff on me, it's totally ending up on you straight away!" she threatened weakly. Louis moved to go sit by Steffie, and Katie looked confused. "You're not coming, Lou?"

"Are you kidding? I don't wanna get crushed!" he replied. His argument prompted a sigh from Katie, who turned instead to her next target.

"Oh come on, if I have to you guys have to."

"I'm in!" the bull cheered, already looking ready to get to his feet. Meghan wrapped a trunk around his tusk, dragging his face toward hers, a steely look in her eyes. It was clear who was in charge.

"Cam, if you go anywhere, we're through."

Cameron, Peaches remembered his full name now, shrunk back down beside his girlfriend, giving one last forlorn look toward the boys tossing another bundle of weed toward one of the darker mammoths from several directions. Most of it missed, but after shaking off the bits that did hit, a single piece of greenery hung stubbornly from his tusk. Most of the other boys were in stitches, thinking their game was hilariously funny and witty.

"It looks lame," Steffie simply said, turning her face up at it and bringing her attention to Louis beside her.

Peaches wanted to join in before they stopped, so she dragged Katie along behind her, the sun-coloured mammoth digging in her heels just as they started to draw close. If she wanted to go unnoticed, she clearly failed. Their presence drew a whistle out of one of the closer mammoths.

"Hey girls," he jeered, the buck beside him trotting his front hooves several times excitedly, not sure what was going on.

"Hey," Peaches drawled as she sauntered up, having learned a few tricks from her new friends over the past year. Despite the secrets they'd taught her about getting what she wanted from a male, she wasn't quite sure what it was that compelled her to lower her eyelids just enough to be noticeable, curving her body to show off the shape of it. The mammoth's eyes trailed over her, and behind him a brown trunk belonging to another bull gave him a nudge. "Any chance we could join in?"

"Why would you wanna do that?" he asked, leaning closer. Peaches could feel Katie's blue eyes on her, wide and uncomprehending, but she couldn't stop. She had no idea what she was doing; all she knew was that she felt completely hot under her thick coat, and that she really wanted to play. This boy would give her what she wanted, surely.

He was new on the island, having only just came with another chunk of ice that had floated straight to Switch-back Cove with the current. Peaches didn't really recognise him all that well, nor most of the boys here. There had been several ice-loads of animals that had made it to their little haven, and not all of them had teenagers on board, but the ones that did arrive didn't make much of an effort to integrate with the animals already present.

This was the largest gathering of teenagers Peaches had seen yet, and though most of the new girls hadn't turned up, there was a small flock of female deer lingering off to the side that kept drawing the attention of the bucks. The boys had made themselves right at home.

"Well, it just looked so fun," she answered finally, circling the end of her trunk around her face to clear her fringe to the side, toying briefly with the dahlia in her hair. He watched, contemplating, but his eyes were continually drawn to her coy stance. It occurred to Peaches only then that she was flirting.

_Oh hell, no harm in having some fun._

Seeing as she'd approached him, it seemed to be left up to him whether or not she and Katie joined in.

"I dunno, the girls don't usually play with us," he said, sounding a little unsure. A teenage beaver started to snicker, and the bull hardened. _He's just like Ethan, always worried about what his friends think of him._ "You should go back to braiding each other's hair."

"Actually," Katie started, sidling up beside Peaches, "that sounds like a good idea, Peach. Lets do that instead, I've been dying to do something to your hair!"

The boys turned, and the bull followed, but only after giving one last look of interest toward Peaches. It was obvious he'd wanted to say something else, even if only in the way he seemed to be trying to convey an apology with his grey eyes alone. She waited until he turned, then scooped up a sandy pile of seaweed that they'd forgotten they'd thrown, and heaved it. Katie gasped.

The bull stumbled as the clump of weed hit him almost completely centre in the back of the head, not from the force of the throw so much as surprise. "Woah," he cried out, much to the shock of the boys either side of him. One of them also shouted in shock, jumping on the opportunity to tease. _Boys are so weird._

"Dude! She totally almost knocked you out!"

"Wimp," another laughed.

He turned around, flicking the stringy, sandy weed from the back of his head. His eyes were narrowed, annoyed, but not angry. Peaches couldn't have cared less even if she had embarrassed him. Just because she was a girl it didn't mean she was going to stand down. Her father and her uncle Diego always taught her to hold her ground against boys, and her mother had raised her with plenty of pride to spare.

"I didn't throw it too hard, did I?" she taunted, maybe even flirted, almost by instinct, "Isn't that how you play?"

She could feel Katie tugging at her tail from behind, trying to entice her away. She flickered her tail purposely, ignoring the other girl, kicking a hind leg back in irritation to get her to stop, much in the way she would if a fly was pestering her.

Strangely, she felt Katie do just that, no longer tugging. Another broad, male trunk lay over her shoulders, causing her to stiffen at the unexpected contact. "Ha! Nice shot, Peach!" It was Bardus, his trunk still slung over her as though they were the closest of friends. It made the heat start to stir, when usually she'd have been disappointed that it wasn't Ethan touching her. Katie let go of her tail completely, coming to stand beside her.

"So, you losers gonna let us play, or not?" she asked much to Peaches' surprise, seemingly confident now that there was a familiar bull behind them.

The bull looked between Bardus, Peach, and the trunk that seemed to connect them, visibly calculating something. Finally, he turned to Katie as though to reply, before reaching up behind his head with his trunk. With a smile, he tossed the pile of seaweed straight at the unsuspecting female, laughing when she squealed as it hit her lightly in her pale face.

She closed her icy blue eyes, shaking her head in disgust, and Peaches too couldn't help but giggle at the other girl. Bardus' trunk had disappeared as the boy started to run, everyone scattering in preparation of an explosion.

Peaches lost the amusement when her friend, still squealing, ran for the water. "Katie?" she called softly, seeing the other girl up to her ankles in the ocean, thick pelt soaking up the seawater and turning her fur dark. Finally, the sun-coloured female bent low, scooping up a pile of wet sand, and turned, running toward Peaches with a fire burning vengeful in her eyes.

It was too late by the time Peaches realised what the wet sand was intended for.

She managed to turn soon enough to only catch it on her shoulder and ear, but the weight of the unpredicted weapon nearly sent her toppling over. The boys were in hysterics, seeing Peaches shaking her head rapidly to try and dislodge the wet sand clumped in her ear, and Katie standing there with the blonde fur on her trunk dripping, staring accusingly. She looked really angry, the longer hair of her top knot loose with frustration, her glare dark and absolutely furious.

"I told you! I knew I'd get hit! Yuck, that was so gross!" she ranted, causing Peaches to pause the vigorous shaking of her head, lifting a trunk to scratch at her clogged ear.

"And?"

"...and what?"

"Was it fun?" Peaches asked expectantly. Katie actually stopped the childish stamping of her feet that Peaches hadn't even noticed her doing until then, pausing to think on her answer. Behind them, she could hear the boys teasing them both. Finally, with a bashful, almost sheepish look, she nodded, and Peaches grinned. "Then lets do it again!"

.:.

* * *

**A/N:** I had no idea how hard it would be to restrain myself from publishing another chapter for an entire week, but I managed! Also, people in this category are very demanding I've noticed. One particular anon simply stated 'I don't like it', no constructive crit or anything. No offence, but I didn't exactly wake up in the morning to try and make you happy, whoever you are. Other than that, thankyou all for the positive response, and I hope you enjoy the rest of this fic.

Bardus' name is derived from a Latin variation of the word 'dull'. Conveniently, as he is described in the credits as 'dumb mammoth', it is also a translation of the word 'stupid'. Cameron, unlike Bardus, is not taken from the film, so he is technically an OC. Also, unlike Bardus, he maintains little depth in the story.

**Love, MK**


	3. III: Wings Of Night, Hide The Sun

**Ever, Ever After**

**III**

**Wings Of Night, Hide The Sun**

_Thin Skin Clawed In Desperation, Releasing But Specks Of Light To Those Below_

.:.

By the time the night had completely settled, and it was too dark to even see what they were throwing anymore, everyone had moved back to the end of the beach where Steffie and the others were. Ethan was already there, staring up at the sky while the alpha girl tried to engage him in conversation. Peaches noticed this before she noticed Louis sitting there, guarding her a spot and waiting.

She smiled at him, all while glancing at Ethan from the corner of her eye, wanting nothing more than for him to look over at her.

She was shocked when he did just that, his eyes reflecting the moon like the ocean did as she sat down, dredging sand from her other ear with her trunk. Beside her, Katie was still laughing, jittering around like a Christmas beetle, high on the adrenaline from doing something physical. "Oh god, that was so fun! The look on your face when you noticed I was gonna throw it at you! It was, like, the absolute best!"

"You smell like seaweed," Steffie pointed out with all her great wisdom, but Peaches didn't bother trying to justify themselves. Rather than say anything at all, she resorted to just racing the end of her trunk through her hair to dislodge a clump of sand she could feel starting to itch as it dried.

Katie threw herself onto the sand beside Meghan's feet, laughing loudly, causing Steffie and Meghan to roll their eyes. Cameron looked disappointed to have missed out, but didn't say anything about it. Peaches thought he deserved it for being such a fool as to chose Meghan as his mate.

Louis patted the ground and Peaches eased herself down, crossing her front legs under her chest, a content look on her face. "Did you have fun?" the molehog asked, and she nodded happily in reply.

"Ha! You bet she did! That girl's the life of the party!" Bardus shouted loudly, throwing himself down similarly to Katie, stretching out and taking up as much room as possible in the space left over around their familiar little group. Around them, the other teenagers began to gather, slowly growing used to the new company.

Ethan had yet to take his eyes off of them.

Steffie looked over and laughed when she saw Peaches' face.

"What? What's wrong?" She could feel herself growing flustered, knowing that Ethan had been staring, and suddenly worried that there was something stupid about her appearance. Did she have seaweed on her trunk? Sand in her fur? _Oh no, oh that'd just ruin everything!_

She was surprised when, instead, Ethan reached over with his trunk, causing Steffie to stop laughing, a frown twisting at the turn of events. Peaches almost flinched when Ethan's trunk brushed her brow - would have at least pulled back under any other circumstances, surely - the touch pausing just long enough to be intrusive, before flicking off a piece of dark seaweed that had caught in her fringe. "There," he said casually, already looking away before he even finished the sentence, as though he didn't just take much longer than needed to tidy her appearance, "that's better."

Louis smiled up at her in reassurance, telling her in his own way that there was nothing else caught in her hair that he could see, and she relaxed as much as possible. There was something else in his expression, something that told her he'd noticed Ethan's pause just as she had. She realized only then that it was kind of hard to be at ease when your entire body felt as though it was on fire, but she managed as best as she could.

They chattered amongst themselves, but Peaches didn't feel at all inclined to participate in the flow of conversation around her. She sat, her front legs crossed over one another, staring up at the clear night sky in waiting, all with a warm feeling of happiness bubbling in her chest, and a heat growing in her belly that made her hind legs fidget.

Meghan seemed just as uncomfortable; Peaches could see the older female's restlessness from the corner of her eye. The darker girl all but reclined as casually as possible against her mate, while his trunk soothed her flank, as though knowing she was ailed by something.

The movement of Cameron's trunk along her side was something that made a jealous storm begin to stir, whether or not Peaches realized at that moment, but after a while she could no longer simply stare at the sky without glancing down at the seemingly content mammoth pair. Despite her controlling bitchiness earlier, Cameron seemed completely happy to be pressed against her, soothing her.

They looked happy together.

Eventually, Peaches forgot about the sky altogether, although her face was tilted up to watch. She stared from the corner of her eye at the couple, and while she was mostly fascinated as to how someone could possibly be happy with a girl like Meghan, she was also intrigued.

Suddenly, she felt a trunk wrap around the edge of hers, and out of shock she jumped, snapping her attention to the mammoth that grabbed her, thinking it was probably just Katie. The dark trunk, definitely not Katie's, pulled away, and Peaches followed the length of it to Bardus, who seemed completely unfazed by her reaction, smiling at her.

"You were pretty zoned out, girl," he said, surprisingly quietly for him seeing as she'd only really heard him yell - perhaps it was just talking really really loudly - unless he was alone with someone. In some ways, he reminded her of her uncle Sid, the almost obnoxious character he was compared to the insightful creature he could be. She knew she was breathing hard, watching has he curled his trunk back between his tusks. "You okay?" he asked, and Peaches figured it must've just been a grab for her attention.

_Nothing else to it._

"Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm cool."

"Cool," he said simply, because what else could he have said? She felt eyes on her, and glanced down at Louis at her side. She was surprised to find he wasn't looking at her, and instead caught the level icey-eyed stare of another mammoth across from her. Ethan was looking straight at her, eyes flickered down to her trunk, then back up to her face.

"Woah, look!" came the familiar voice of a buck.

Bardus laughed, reaching over with his trunk and pushing against her shoulder, then pointing to the sky, a low trumpeting sound coming him that she recognised as excitement. She and Ethan broke their eye contact at the same time to look upwards.

The sky, dark satin, was streaked with the trails of white and golden light, a mist of meteors racing one another over the expanse of space. Peaches gasped, nudging Louis just to make sure he was looking, before suddenly all sounds melted away. All the cheers and words of excitement simply faded, vanished, and all she could see was the night sky, graced wonderfully with slips of fire, hear the crickets chirping in the tufts of grass around them, and feel that heat beginning to throb under her skin abate for just the moment.

It was all so quiet. _So beautiful._

.:.

* * *

"Where's Sid?" Diego finally asked, irritation laced with concern, peering over the dark area for his answer. It was as though the entire herd had been holding their breath since the sloth had disappeared into the undergrowth, but as soon as the sabre spoke, they were all given the chance to breathe.

Their home was as dark as the night itself. With Sid absent, none of the others having taken the care to learn how to ignite a fire, so their eyes were struggling to adjust to the approaching evening, lit only by the faint pale glow toward the west, and the illumination from the moon and stars that started to glitter above. It was more foreboding to actually be able to see the trees take form around them, no light to focus their eyes. Manny never really noticed before how accustomed they'd grown to Sid building a fire.

"He should've been back by now," Diego continued to mutter.

Eddie, who had come back down from his and his brother's perch after a good hour's worth of brooding, sans Crash, leaped up onto Manny's tusk. "I guess there aren't many good rocks around here," he replied almost naively. A glance at his expression told his words were those of sarcasm.

Manny looked down at the possum, before glancing up at the tree where Crash still sat, striped back to the herd, arms folded and peering out over the dark forest. He was visible from the ground, but was in the perfect position to pretend he couldn't hear the others, and was equally out of reach of all aside from his brother.

Eddie had refused to go up and fetch his twin, saying Crash just needed some time to himself.

_Since when did either of them need time to themselves,_ he'd thought,_ they've been inseparable since the womb._

The other matter, aside from Crash refusing to reach ground level, was that Sid hadn't yet come back.

Diego was pacing.

Diego _never_ paced, not unless he was pining over Shira or worried about Sid or Peaches.

Sid wasn't exactly the most invulnerable of animals, after all.

"Maybe I should go look for him," the sabre offered, giving a quick glance toward his mate. Shira was stood toward the side, sky eyes firm on the path Sid had taken, expecting his return at any moment. When no one either denied or supported his idea, Diego made to leave. "Yeah, I'll go look for him."

"Wait," Ellie chimed, holding her trunk out in front of the sabre, a gentle smile in her eyes. "I need the walk – I'll look for him."

No more was said as Ellie turned toward the trees, Manny knowing better than to attempt to stop his mate from seeking out their missing friend. He didn't have a particularly bad feeling, and knew in his heart that Sid was safe, but perhaps a talk with Ellie was something he needed.

Ellie always knew what to say. Manny shone with pride for his mate, sometimes.

At this, Diego resigned himself to laying down by the unlit pile of wood Ellie had collected for the fire, staring into it as though it would magically light itself. Manny, feeling sympathy, leaned back to rest against the cave wall, watching his friend carefully.

It took them several minutes, until the meteor shower began to rain over their sky, to realise Shira had followed Ellie into the forest.

.:.

* * *

And then, it was over. In minutes, the storm of light was vanishing, the final meteors straggling after the body of the phenomenon, and the enthralled whooping and satisfied commentary were starting to filter back in, most of the mammoths and other mammals already beginning to stand.

"Oh wow, I haven't seen one of those since I was a kid!"

"That was awesome!"

"Dude, what exactly are they?"

"Who cares!"

"I thought it would be bigger."

"Your mum thought _you_ would be bigger."

"Burn!"

"_Your _mum thought_ your dad_ would be bigger!"

"Too far, man."

"Gross!"

"What's he on about? I don't get it."

"Oh look, there's one more!"

Peaches was just rising onto her feet when the very last meteor crawled across the sky, seemingly at a snail's pace compared to the rest. Entranced, Peaches was still half-way up, knees bent, when she stopped to watch. Ethan, who was upright by now, was watching the sky himself as he walked closer. She didn't even notice until he was right beside her, leaning in, whispering to her and no one else.

"Make a wish, Peaches. It might come true."

She snapped her eyes from the sky to look at him, shocked. _He said my full name. Not just 'girl', or 'Peach' – he called me 'Peaches'._

He returned the stare for a second before walking away, behind her, and to the other side of Bardus, nudging him with a foot to get his attention. She looked back up, deciding that she wouldn't look at either of them, instead watching as the meteor disappeared into the line of the horizon, closing her eyes just before it disappeared.

_I hope one day, maybe soon, and I don't even care how, that all my dreams will come true._

Louis squeezed her foot in a hug. Without giving him a chance to protest, she slung him over her shoulder and decided it was about time she took him home. She would have happily gone without so much as a goodbye to anybody apart from Katie, who seemed sad to see her going so soon.

"You'll be coming to the Riverside, though, right?"

"What? When?" Peaches asked, for both her and Louis, who was already making himself comfortable for the ride home, eyes droopy though he'd never admit it. He never handled late nights like other teenagers did. Other kids seemed to come alive at night, but even after all these years, the moment it grew dark, Louis was ready to call it a day and head off to sleep.

But even so, she could feel him stirring with interest at the prospect of a party.

"In about two days, we're all going to Riverside for the night! It'll be hectic!" she exclaimed, growing enthused and looking about ready to spring out of her pelt. Mitch, a buck who was only just regrowing his antlers after losing them out of shedding season – it was an incident a year ago on the mainland where hot mud had burned them off, and no one had let him live it down yet - scampered up to them, a manic kind of happy that only a deer could ever be.

"Hells yeah! Peach, you better be coming – all the other clans are showing up, so you hafta be there!" he grinned, bouncing on his hooves beside Katie. Peaches, used to the buck's unnecessary enthusiasm, just smiled at the boy. "You too, Louie!" he called up, automatically knowing exactly where Louis would be. His response was a single paw waving down over the edge of Peaches' ear as an affirmative.

"Cool. So I'll see you there, girl, and don't forget to fix your hair this time, because I swear, I will drag you off and do it myself!" the other female demanded, and though it was hard to take her seriously after she'd dumped a pile of wet sand on Peaches' head, the darker mammoth nodded in consent.

"Sure, no problem," she readily agreed. She could already feel her back legs starting to fidget, and cut her goodbye short. "Well, I'd better get going pronto, because my parents were expecting me home, like, now."

"Okay, well, don't forget! Riverside, two days!"

"See ya!" she called, watching Katie and Mitch turn around and head for the crowd, before turning to head into the trees.

Bardus was standing behind her, and Peaches let out a small indignant squeak of surprise. How long has he been standing there, and why didn't Katie say anything!

"Catch you at Riverside, Peach," he said cheerily, in the same loud tone as he always seemed to speak in, as though there really was nothing strange at all about spontaneously appearing behind someone. She should probably be used to it, seeing as her dad always used to do it when she tried sneaking off, and Diego had a habit of doing it when she was younger and about to get in trouble. These days, Sid sometimes waltzed in at the opportune moment of her attempting something stupid, like her berry binge, and encouraged her. _The bastard._

Still, before recently, Bardus had hardly spoken a word to her. In fact, whenever she'd tried, he'd grow stiff in the spine and find some excuse to leave, speaking in as few words as he could manage. _Why the change, why now?_

"Don't forget, be there by sundown," he said, just a notch quieter than as was normal for him.

"Hehe, yeah, see you then," she replied, glad she didn't sound as uneasy as she'd felt. Bardus didn't move an inch, despite knowing he was in her path, and Peaches wasn't about to ask him to move when she could simply go around him, so she began her small circle to start her trip home, strangely conscious of every point of her body. She felt as though she was trying extremely hard to keep the sway out of her hips, and the stumble out of her feet, and for some reason she had no idea where to place her gaze. She settled on Bardus' face, so she wouldn't seem rude, dredging up a smile for his benefit.

It wasn't his fault that her stomach was roiling around like it was full of butterflies.

She was used to the sensation, but usually it only ever happened around Ethan. Now, it was happening around every boy that came close to her. _I fluttered my damn eyelashes at a guy I didn't even know the name of, for crying out loud. What the hell's wrong with me?_

She had no idea how to feel when she saw Bardus' eyes slide over her form, pausing just briefly over the shape of her hind, but she did know that the heat flared unusually hot at the way he purposely made her walk around him, and knew, in the back of her mind despite how much she would deny it, that it was simply so he could look at her.

She wasn't sure how to feel about that, hastening her step, feeling a funny pressure in her lower stomach.

_Damn hormones._

She gave a bellow from her trunk, waving backwards with it to say goodbye to everybody else, receiving several trumpeting sounds in return, from whom she couldn't be sure, but one definitely sounded like Ethan and another like Steffie. The thought of the alpha girl acknowledging her leave was strangely comforting, seeing as she'd hardly been acknowledged at all.

Peaches felt she'd been away from her own herd long enough.

.:.

* * *

Sid had just watched the last of the meteors melt away from the sky, a small straggler that had fallen far behind the others, when he heard the tell tale crunching of a mammoth behind him. He'd thought it might have been Manny, or someone he didn't personally know, but unless it was an angry male he had no reason to be worried.

He was quite surprised to hear Ellie's voice calling for him. "Sid?"

Surely she couldn't see him where he was slouched across a tree branch, arms dangling. She passed under his branch, circling the tree, eyes squinted and searching in the dark. He smiled warmly. "Up here, Ellie."

"Ah!" She jumped in fright, then looked up immediately, a relieved smile on her face. "Sweetheart! What're you doin' up there?"

"Just watching the show," he answered, pointing to the night sky, now empty of travelling light. Ellie sighed.

"We were all worried," stepped back, waiting for Sid to come down, which he began to do, easing himself out of the tree with more grace than he applied to any other task. Having lived in trees growing up, it was expected he'd be more agile at getting out of them than he would, say, climbing a cliff. It was still unusual.

"Oh," he replied absently, but not apologising.

Ellie was staring expectantly at him, but without anything further coming from him, she sighed, leaning closer to him. "You wanna talk about it?"

"About what?"

"Whatever's going on with you, Diego, and my brothers."

"Crash and Eddie mean well, but they don't understand. I'm happy for Diego, I really am, and I love Shira. She's made him so happy."

"So what's wrong, then?" she prompted, knowing he was unfurling in his own time and revealing himself at his own pace.

"It's just...I'll never have that, you know? That happiness? A while ago, I would've said I never wanted a mate, but my best friends are so happy, and I'm...not."

Ellie remembered something similar overcoming Diego while she was pregnant with Peaches, and hesitated before asking, "Sid, do you want to leave the herd?"

The sloth shrugged, "maybe. I don't know. It feels like all I've ever known is you guys, I don't want to lose that, but...am I missing out on something else?"

Ellie knew it was silly to feel hurt at Sid thinking there might be better out there than his herd – _his family_, her mind corrected – but it was there anyway. She understood now, even if she thought she had back then, why Manny had been so wounded by Diego's desire to leave in search of something more. _Were we not good enough_, she couldn't help but think, but bottled it away.

Sid was lonely; he had no mate, no one to spend his time with now that Peaches had grown up and Diego was elsewhere occupied. Ever since Sid's grandmother had left them to live with the other elders in the centre of the island, he'd become sullen, she'd definitely noticed this change.

She just never thought he'd be so deeply afflicted with it.

If Sid wanted to leave, to find happiness where he couldn't find it with his herd, who was she to stop him?

"Well, honey, if you want to leave, I can't stop you, and neither can the others," she replied, wishing she could have sounded just that little bit more reassuring than she did. The guilt that had begun to take over Sid's expression was painful to see on the face of someone who had always been so optimistic about everything. "I want you to know that we're your family, and if that's what you want to do, we'll support you, just as we'll always be there if you change your mind."

"Oh Ell," he shook his head, "if I leave, I doubt I'll come back. Which is why I don't want to leave."

She was very suddenly reminded of how fragile Sid was in comparison to the rest of the herd. He was small, weak, and from looking at him she could see how very tired he was. The way Sid was looking at her, she knew that he meant if he left, it wasn't that he wouldn't return by choice, but that he'd likely die. He couldn't protect himself.

There was a painful twinge when she considered the vast difference between a sloth's life expectancy and her own. They were always going to lose Sid first. They just all chose to never consider it, which was exactly what she chose to do now, burying it deep within denial.

The smile was back in her eyes, "then don't," she said simply, turning around and heading back. Sid followed behind her, casually dawdling in that way he always did, but for once without any complaints of exhaustion or hunger. Unknown to her, he was staring at her the entire way, wondering what he'd said that had offended her.

They both missed the eerie silver reflection of light from their sabre companion's eyes, neither having noticed the pair of glowing orbs watching them carefully from the darkness. Those silver eyes didn't miss anything, however, carefully observing both mammals.

Shira returned to camp before Sid and Ellie. Outwardly, she seemed unconcerned with Sid's disappearance still, happily pretending she hadn't just disappeared as well for a short while as she curled up at Diego's side.

Her nonchalance hadn't completely masked the frown, or the curve of painful consideration in her eyes. Diego stared down at the white and silver head of his mate, tempted to ask her where she had disappeared to for so long, but wasn't in the mood to have an argument. Letting things be, he too rested his head on his paws, still staring into the pile of dark wood, still waiting for it to be lit aflame.

When Ellie also returned, Sid half-hidden behind her back leg, Manny had almost stood in relief to see his friend in one piece. Diego had glanced over in curiosity, then continued to stare, watching Sid go through the motions mechanically with the pair of rocks he'd used the previous night, having known they were there all along, sparking up the fire.

Sid never once looked at him, just as Ellie never once looked at Sid.

.:.

* * *

"Ready to head back?" Cameron asked, and Ethan actually had to look over at him to be sure he was only talking to Meghan. He watched, curious, as she nodded, twining their trunks silently. She didn't even bother saying 'goodbye' to the other girls. She just turned, fell in step with her partner, and left.

Ethan watched them go, their pace completely matched, their sides pressed together, trunks knotted together, undoubtedly happy with the silence between them.

Meghan always had been a little more separated from the other girls, probably because Katie, with all her stupidity, was Steffie's favourite. The gold-furred mammoth would never try and usurp her, even Ethan knew that, so Steffie really had nothing to fear.

Until Peaches started hanging out with them, and she and Katie became true friends.

It was an unspoken truth that Steffie was completely jealous of Peaches, as her level of contact with the other female was always reliant on her mood. Ethan, at first, thought it was because of himself that the girls had such tension between them. Maybe it was self-centred believing that, but at least he knew it was partly true, because he'd been the one to invite Peaches to hang out with them in the first place.

He still remembered perfectly well when Peaches had first crashed into him, and their tusks had locked. He hadn't cared, not really, and not all of it could be put to the fact his head had hit the ground pretty hard. Peaches had the greenest eyes he'd ever seen, and up close that was something that wasn't too hard to notice. She took after her mother, whom he'd always thought was a beautiful mammoth, but her eyes were darker, richer, and up so close that his vision was a little blurred from both impact and lack of focus, that was how he knew for sure that it was Peaches that had fallen on top of him.

Then the girl's double actually turned out to be her father, and suddenly the fact their tusks were locked together reminded him that it looked a lot worse than the situation actually was. Peaches had the same thought, trying to throw herself out of his personal space, but all Ethan could think was that somehow this older bull knew what he'd thought of his daughter's eyes.

Because really, he wasn't blind. Peaches was probably the prettiest girl he'd ever seen.

Maybe that was just Bardus' words coming out of his mouth, but after all this time, he still hadn't lost interest in her, so that must mean something, surely.

"Hey, psst, Ethan, check me out," Mitch came up beside him, grinning, before heading off toward a group of females who were unfamiliar, all staring at the top of his head. Ethan chuckled and shook his head.

The tips of Mitch's antlers were only barely appearing, making him appear more doe-like than male, but thankfully they would be significantly grown by this time next year. Every time he saw Mitch, the buck unknowingly reminded him of the words Peaches had spat at him about how stupid he and his friends could be.

The torment Mitch had put up with, despite being completely versed in not showing it, ever since he'd lost his antlers in the little stunt he'd pulled...well, not even Ethan couldn't imagine it. So he did what he could, reminded the buck of how brave he was, and how all the girls are gonna remember it the rest of their lives, and sometimes when Mitch went to do something stupid again, Ethan would jokingly tease him and say 'better wait until your antlers grow back – wouldn't wanna lose something more important' just to keep the guy out of trouble.

Maybe it was him trying to be a good friend. Maybe it was the part of him that knew what Peaches thought of him and wanted to change that.

"Hey man!" Bardus exclaimed, so constantly cheerful and excited, bumping their shoulders together. It wasn't long before Bardus was getting off track as he usually did and delivering one of his infamous split sentences that always had Ethan rolling his eyes, "that was so awesome, but hey, guess what! Peaches and Louis'll be at Riverside. That means the whole gang'll be there!"

"That's great, B."

His friend fell quiet, moving to come around and face him. "Everything cool with you?"

"Yeah it's just...you know..."

"Yeah...yeah, I know," he reassured. The genius he was, he couldn't see Ethan had no desire for conversation. "Hey, why don't you go see the Matriarch? Heard Meghan's going there tomorrow; why don't you go with her?"

"And what's she gonna say? Ride it out? I'm fine."

With a shake of his head, giving Bardus a look that told him exactly what he thought of the suggestion, Ethan turned around and headed straight for the trees, hoping to find his way home without having to think too much on it. His mind was far, far elsewhere, dealing with thoughts of pretty girls with green eyes, overly loud friends who did more harm than good, and how much he really wanted to pull all the bark off the nearest tree with his tusks.

.:.

* * *

By the time Peaches made it back to her family, Sid was the only one asleep, and everyone seemed to be strangely tense. Whatever had happened, she was kinda glad for it, because it meant no one asked why she was covered in sand and smelled like salt water and sweaty boys. Not even when Ellie affectionately rubbed her trunk over her daughter's head and dislodged a dry piece of sea grass.

They only laughed, as tense as it was from the others, and went to bed on it, not even a word as to the fact she was an hour later than they'd agreed on.

"Did you have fun, sweetheart?" was the only question that was asked, and she was perfectly happy with that.

Despite all the strangeness, she slept deeply that night, dreams of meteors and the feeling of intense warmth that should have burned but didn't.

.:.

* * *

**A/N:**So, I haven't forgotten about Granny. She'll make an appearance in the story, just to point that out. Sorry about all the scene-changes, but this chapter was too short and I had to add bits and pieces here and there so that the next chapter could start with the next day.

Thanks for all the amazing feedback, and I know there was something else I had to add, but I'm just going to bed because it's like five-thirty in the morning here. So, goodnight, hope you like the story so far, and I'll update again in a week's time.

**Love, MK**


End file.
